Shout Out

I'm currently in Portland, Oregon for the National Championship Triathlon Race and the USA Triathlon Art and Science Symposium and have had the pleasure of seeing three of my athletes this past weekend.

A huge congrats to:

Stacy D. for her top 20 finish in her age-group

Becky W. for her 11th place finish in the elite race

Sarah H. for her 2nd place finish in the elite race

Great job ladies!  Enjoy some photos from this weekend!

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

The Newest Seebohar

Nope, we didn't have another baby but I after returning from the Olympics, my family had thoroughly convinced me that we absolutely needed a puppy.  So, I gave in and here he is.  

We rescued Koda (named after the small bear in the movie Brother Bear) from a shelter where he was about to be put down.  He is about 11 weeks old now, is a boxer/yellow lab mix and is just the cutest little thing...well, except for his razor sharp teeth that he loves using on everything and everyone!

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

Being out of shape is no fun

My wife's mom's birthday party was this weekend so I decided to hop on my road bike to get in a little training with a short (16 mile) one-way commute.  It was fantastic being on the bike again and going there was awesome.   I took a nice 3-hour break to enjoy the family festivities and shoot some hoop and play soccer with all of the kids then I hopped back on my bike en route to the Seebohar casa.

The ride back was much better as the sun had come out and the Colorado afternoon was picture perfect!  I zipped into my driveway and dismounted the bike only to feel a very strange sensation. "What is wrong with me?" I asked myself.  Was I sick?  Was my head still a bit wobbly from my mountain bike crash a couple of weeks ago?

Nope...that feeling was something that I have not felt in a while, about 4 months to be exact (that's how long I have not been running because of my Achilles "challenge").  The feeling of FATIGUE!  Ah!  I love it!  I was finally tired from a training session and while it was only 32 miles with a break in the middle, it was good to experience that type of fatigue that validates why you do what you do.

Okay, next check-in and blog should be post my first run back...at least I hope so as next week I may try to attempt a very short run!

Stay tuned!

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

Shout Out

A huge shout out to the following Fuel4mance elite athletes for their stellar efforts this weekend:

Kristin H., 70.3 Ironman Muskoka, 12th elite female

Becky W., Pacific Grove, 4th elite female

Fantastic job ladies!  

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com

Shout out!

I wanted to give a shout out to the following Fuel4mance athletes for great performances over the weekend:

Julie L., Ironman Wisconsin (second one), 12:28:56, 3rd in age-group
David L., Ironman Wisconsin (first one), 12:45:18

Congrats to Julie and David!


Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com

Holy Jet Lag and Altitude

The trip home was long and included about 1 hour of sleep in 24 hours time but it was well worth it after seeing my wonderful wife and beautiful kids.  They picked me up from the shuttle bus from the airport and we immediately went out to dinner.  I had an unbelievable urge for a vegetarian burrito from Chipotle!

After spending hours gawking at my wife and kids, my body was finally ready to shut down.  Or was it?  Ah yes, it had seemed as if I had forgotten the sleep troubles I had when arriving in China.  It took about 4 days to get into a somewhat normal sleep pattern but I was hoping for magic coming home so I didn't feel so "blah" with my family.

True to my body, it did take 4 days and as I am writing this blog on the 5th day of being home, I can honestly say that those four days were not fun.  Aside from waking up between 2-3am each morning and not being able to go back to sleep, I was a bit on the grouchy side due to sleep deprivation and could not exercise to save my life.  Altitude is killer when you are away from it for 5 weeks!  I was optimistic with each day that I would be back to normal but my body would not cooperate with my wishes.  Daily naps, in the time span of 2-3 hours, would plague my routine but you know, it's over now.  And I know that for sure based on the mountain bike ride I did today.

I use training as a bit of a test to see how my body is doing I felt just short of great on the bike today.  I was pushing a tough gear, was mentally navigating well and even pulled off a 3 minute PR on a regular course I ride.

I have another 6 days now to enjoy this wonderfully beautiful state of Colorado and my family before reporting back to work.  I'm taking over the house duties as much as I can to allow my wife to get some R&R but since I know her, she will have none of that.  She will enjoy some time to work on some of her exquisite hand-crafted silver jewelry that she makes through her company CnK Designs (www.cnk-designs.com).  Regardless, I'll still try to fit in some trail getaways on the knobbies in between coaching my son's soccer team, grocery shopping, getting the kids to and from school and taking care of some household duties.

I'm back and loving it!  More to come about my Achilles recovery in my next post so stay tuned!

Coach Bob

coachbob@fuel4mance.com